The earlier phase of the internship application process starts by submitting a resume, oftentimes accompanied by a good cover letter to positions and interviewers of interest. With these documents, applicants then have almost thirty seconds or less to acquire the attention of employer.

With entire resumes, employers get on a daily basis, I can guarantee you if you do not impress them with your previous documents, you’ll never get an opportunity to move to the next level.

Developing a Resume to Apply for Internship

A usual query I get from students is if they require doing a separate resume and cover letter for each employer? If they do not have a resume to start with, developing a resume for each employer of interest might seem like an insurmountable task to accomplish; but it is actually not all that difficult once you get your first resume started.

Targeting Resume

Once you’ve an initial resume, it is instead convenient to make changes to target it to a specific internship/job or industry.  Seeking at the key words in the position description can give you a great indication as to the kind of skills needed to do the job and what key words you’ll need to involve in your resume.  For undergraduates, several internship seek candidates that possess particular transferable skills, like: communication, interpersonal, organization, computer, and leadership. To explain your competency you can concentrate on your coursework, previous internships and jobs, and any club or volunteer activities in which you’ve participated.

However resumes being used for particular positions and industries can be nearly identical, you will surely need to involve more specific information in your cover letter.  A cover letter is where you can let an interviewer know your interests and specific reasons why you need to work for their specific company.

Oftentimes it is pretty easy to find this data by searching at the internship description while other times you will need to take a look at the company’s website and look over their mission statement to see what the employer’s business is all about.  By recognizing what an employer is seeking in a qualified candidate, you can start focusing your cover letter on exactly what the employer is searching for.

Seeking Internships Online

You might also decide to search sites like Google, Indeed.com, SimplyHired.com, Idealist.org, or other sites where you can seek information about just any kind of internship you are searching for.  You migh also check with your college to see if they offer Careershift, which offers every position on every job board that exist online. Be certain to use the Advanced Search Options on these sites to make certain that you’re getting a filtered, and more targeted list of internships. You might include particular key words, a particular industry or job function, a location plus other criteria that will assist to keep the listings to exactly what you are looking for.

You might also sign up for sites or an employer’s email or newsletter to receive information when new listings come available.

This might seem like a lot of work but once you get the hang of it you’ll find yourself saving time by being more organized.  I frequently suggest that students use a spreadsheet where they can list all of the internships they are interested and the deadlines to apply.  Once they start applying, they will need to keep track of those positions they have applied for. Few sites let you save these sites right on their website which also makes it a whole lot simpler to stay organized and follow up.

Targeting Good Cover Letter

If you’ve many areas of interest you’ll need to have several resume and good cover letter prepared.  You will always need to have a section of your good cover letter that speaks straightly to the employer.  You need them to comprehend that you know what they are about and you need to list exactly what knowledge and skills you’ve to offer the company.

With so many candidates for each position, it is the applicant’s responsibility to convey their strengths and skills that speak straightly to what the company is searching for in a candidate.